ight to a certain piece of land in St. Mary's
field. The cruelty and absurdity of such a mode of decision seems to
have been forcibly impressed upon the mind of the earl, by this affecting
circumstance; and he agreed with the burgesses and inhabitants of
Leicester, on the payment of one penny for every house that had a gable
or gavel in the High-street (a payment afterwards known by the term
_gavel pence_) that all pleas of the above mentioned nature should be
determined by a jury of twenty four persons.

From the county hall, or castle, as it is commonly called, a road to the
right leads to an antient gate-way strongly built and once furnished with
a port-cullis, and every requisite for defence. The embattled parapet
being much decayed, was taken down a few years ago, and its roof is now
reduced to one of an ordinary form. When this alteration was made, the
arms of the dukes of Lancaster by whom the gate-way was undoubtedly built
were destroyed on the outside; but on the inside, at the spring of the
arch, two mutilated figures, one of a lion, the other of a bear,
doubtless some of their devices, still remain. The lion passant, it is
well known, formed part of the arms of that family, and the muzzled bear
was a symbol used on the seal by Edward the first in his transactions
with Scotland. Nothing can be more probable than that the Lancastrian
princes would ornament their buildings with a figure which would serve to
preserve the memory of their descent from so renowned a monarch.

The stranger must now be requested to pass thro' the uninviting doorway
of the adjoining public house; and he will be led by an easy ascent up to
the _mount_, or perhaps the scite of the keep of the castle, which tho'
lately lowered considerably for the purpose of converting it into a
Bowling-green, yet affords a pleasant station for a view of the environs
of Leicester, and is the spot from which the best idea can be formed of
the antient form and boundaries of the fortifications.

It is well known that the fast Saxons built few or no castles, for having
nearly exterminated the Britons, during the long continued warfare that
preceded their conquest of that people, they had no occasion for strong
fortresses to secure the possession of the territories they had acquired;
and in the later ages of their dynasty they were too indolent and
ignorant to undertake such works with spirit and effect, notwithstanding
the frequent and sudden inroads of